Operation Main Street: Attending To Problems Here at Home

The following is the text of a proposal to be presented at the OWS Bergen County meeting Wednesday, Nov. 30,  at 7 p.m. at The Ethical Culture Society of Bergen County at 687 Larch Avenue, in Teaneck. The meeting is open to the public.

Never underestimate the power of an idea or the power of people working as one. People and their ideas matter, and together, we can bring home a point, make ourselves heard, make change happen.

Occupy Wall Street gave us these powerful reminders and they are invaluable tools, as we move forward building on some important principles, the first, being peacefulness and nonviolence. I have never in all my life seen so many young people in the last few months respond so consistently peacefully, with chants, with nonviolence in the face of bold aggression, baton strikes, pepper spraying, ridiculous and frightening behavior by authorities, those who should know better. This too is a powerful reminder. We can’t stray -- I’ll speak for myself and for the group I helped to found, The Fort Lee Peace Vigil, which launched in 2006 – We can’t stray from the values we have long upheld as activists, rooted in the beliefs handed down from other movements and individuals such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi.

So, while we’re not going to stray from our values, we have a lot of work to do. People need to be fed, clothed and properly sheltered. They need to have jobs and they need to have an education. They need to feel they can sustain themselves and their families and that their dreams of having their children go to college and of getting a pension in retirement will not break down or be dismissed by those in power.

The idea of occupation signifies mainly taking ownership of what is ours. So, let’s start putting money in local banks and credit unions. Let’s invest in local businesses and support them. Let’s stop spending needlessly and do what we can on the most basic level, the level closest to us, the local level to help our economy along. Let’s Occupy Main Street. Let’s take back our local economy and strengthen our ability to effect change.

More of us need to attend mayor and council meetings not just to complain but to propose ideas and solutions. For example: The Leonia Peace Group has been actively engaged with its mayor and council to get them to sign a “Bring the War Money Home” petition. We all know what the trillions being spent on devastating and killing beings overseas, including our own soldiers, could do to benefit people here.

While we seek the help of our local officials, we know we can’t rely on them exclusively. It takes a village, more than one person, to carry on a dream. I propose a Citizens Army of Action in Bergen County, a Citizens Army comprised of individuals who determine together what the key issues are that need to be addressed -- for example: homelessness, joblessness and bank foreclosures. This army of volunteers will meet periodically to discuss actions that will involve personal exchanges with legislators; reaching out through technology and media; and actual demonstrations that may range from sit-ins before a home that is about to be foreclosed to acts of public reconciliation that will target institutions and involve media. For, if a home is taken from someone, those who are responsible need to know what effect such an action has on a person’s life and that of her family. Those who suffer injustices need to reach institutions with their message, and to this end, media and technology will be utilized to carry such messages to institutions and the public.

A Web site will be constructed that will link to other sources. This Web site will report all instances of failed and successful reconciliations between, for example, property owners who have lost homes and bank representatives; the stories of people who have lost jobs as well as those who have made jobs available – all these will be accessible. In cases where an act of reconciliation -- with, hopefully a promise to help -- is made, this too will be videotaped and accessible. We also need to archive the processes by which we hope to improve our children’s lives, the efforts we’ve made to benefit them and provide them with a future.

So, we aim to expose our problems, shed light on those who need help, on those who provide help and on those who refuse to give it. Injustices can’t remain in the dark. We need to develop multi-tiered strategies of communication using media and technology, and stages of action to make sure the needs and demands of people get across effectively and that their right to communicate and stand for those rights is always protected.

Simultaneously, the aim is to improve communication in order to better relations within our community, bridge or at least narrow gaps between those who have not and those who do, between those who have been disenfranchised and those who have power and to establish perimeters of mutual respect and dialogue so that change for the better can take place. If we are peacemakers aiming to build bridges and bridge gaps, we can’t make enemies of authorities and institutions, even when they fail us. We must embrace them too, for we all know that we won’t better the world by creating more enemies, only by strengthening what bonds we do have and helping to evolve the consciousness of all.

The Occupy movement has reminded us we can take a stand for our rights, own our lives and relationships to government and corporate America and start making changes right here, right now. It takes willingness and a plan.

At the same time, I think it’s important to stay connected to the heart of the movement in New York City. So, learn about what to do, by helping OWS NYC. Tweet @OccupyWallSt or @OccupyWallStNYC. Or go to www.occupywallstreet.org. Ask how you can help, become a citizen journalist.

Thanks for listening.